{"id":73951,"date":"2026-05-19T13:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=73951"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:31:18","slug":"judge-reynaldo-aligada-jr-appointed-first-asian-pacific-american-justice-in-minnesota-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/19\/judge-reynaldo-aligada-jr-appointed-first-asian-pacific-american-justice-in-minnesota-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Reynaldo Aligada, Jr. appointed to Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming first Asian Pacific American justice in state history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced the appointment of Judge Reynaldo \u201cReggie\u201d Aligada, Jr. \u201902 to serve as associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Judge Aligada will join the bench as the first Asian Pacific American justice in Minnesota history, wrote the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association (MNAPABA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled and honored to be selected as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court,\u201d\u00a0said Judge Aligada in a press release<\/a> from the Office of Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan.\u00a0\u201cI am so grateful to the Governor and his team for entrusting me with this great responsibility. I recognize the impact the Court\u2019s decisions have on the lives of Minnesotans, and I will strive to do justice and protect the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge\u00a0<\/strong>Aligada\u00a0currently serves as a\u00a0district court\u00a0judge for the Second Judicial District of Minnesota. He previously worked in the Office of the Federal Defender and as an associate at Robins Kaplan (then Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi). He also clerked for Judge Wilhelmina\u00a0M.\u00a0Wright on the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Judge Michael\u00a0J.\u00a0Davis on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. He is a graduate of Mitchell Hamline School of Law and has served on the Board of Trustees since 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge\u00a0Aligada\u00a0has had an exemplary career as a\u00a0district\u00a0court\u00a0judge in the Second Judicial District, and he will bring that expertise to the Supreme Court,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Minnesota Supreme Court Chief\u00a0Justice\u00a0Natalie Hudson.\u00a0\u201cHe has a superb legal mind and is widely recognized for his thoughtfulness, integrity, and warmth.\u00a0Judge\u00a0Aligada\u00a0will be a tremendous asset to the Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Aligada will fill the position of associate justice in the fall. Justice Theodora Ga\u00eftas, who currently occupies the role, has been appointed by Governor Walz to serve as chief justice of the Court upon the retirement of Chief Justice Hudson in September. Chief Justice Hudson, a one-time assistant dean at Hamline University School of Law (one of Mitchell Hamline\u2019s predecessor institutions), has served as chief justice since 2023.<\/p>\n

Read the full press release here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced the appointment of Judge Reynaldo \u201cReggie\u201d Aligada, Jr. \u201902 to serve as associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Judge Aligada will join the bench as the first Asian Pacific American justice in Minnesota history, wrote the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association (MNAPABA). \u201cI am humbled and honored to … <\/p>\n

Judge Reynaldo Aligada, Jr. appointed to Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming first Asian Pacific American justice in state history<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":73954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-73951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-features","9":"category-news","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73956,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73951\/revisions\/73956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}